Nader: Empower People vs. Elites

The Associated Press, Thursday 31 August 2000; 9:55 a.m. EDT

NEW YORK Green Party presidential nominee Ralph Nader said Thursday
the central issue in this year's campaign is empowering people
against control by a few.

What will turn on voters to his candidacy, Nader said on NBC's
"Today," is "giving them more power, looking them in the eye and
say if you don't have more power you are not going to have more
social justice, you are not going to have a deep democracy solving
problems, you are not going to be able to lift this country up to
its national possibilities."

His goal, he said, is to halt the concentration of that power "more
and more in the hands of the few controlling our government."

Nader said he expects to be on the ballot in 45 states "and the
overwhelming population will have a chance to vote for the Green
Party candidate."

The longtime consumer advocate repeated his campaign theme: that
on the issues that matter there is little difference between Democrat
Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush. "They are different in a
few areas but the rhetoric is more different than the reality,"
Nader asserted.

Polls indicate Nader could damage Gore in a few states, chiefly in
California, where he has support in the range of 5 percent. Nader
said he is not concerned about taking votes away from Gore.

"Obviously I am worried about Al Gore taking votes away from me,"
Nader said. "We all have to earn our votes. We are not entitled to
any votes."